Othello

Synopsis: Video recording, using a single, fixed camera, of Munchner Kammerspiele’s production of Othello adapted by Feridun Zaimoglu and Gunter Senkel and directed by Luk Perceval. Thomas Thieme is Othello.
Language: German (Standard)
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Video
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Recording date: 28 Apr 2006
Duration: 120 mins

Director

Luk Perceval

Writer

Feridun Zaimoglu; Gunter Senkel

Music

Jens Thomas

Production Design

Katrin Brack

Costume

Ursula Renzenbrink

Cast

Theatre: Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Theatre company: Muenchner Kammerspiele
Production type: Stage Recordings
Historical period: Contemporary
Plays: Othello
Subjects: Drama
Keywords: Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Complete Works Festival (Stratford upon Avon 2006-7); Race-reversed productions

Notes: Performed in German with English surtitles.
General: British audiences and critics were incensed by the production objecting to a white Othello, the brutalist racist and sexist language, and the set (the one item of furniture on stage is a black piano, symbolically mounted on a white one, at which Jens Thomas picks out a virtually continuous jazz accompaniment).
History: The production played from 26-29 April 2006 at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre as part of the Complete Works Festival. The play was shown on German television on the ZDF Theaterkanal (3 May 2003) and a tape may be purchased from ZDF Programme Service: email: programmservice@zdf.de, http://www.theaterkanal.de/fernsehen/mitschnitt/
Reviews: Billington, Michael. The Guardian (April 28 2006). Billington writes "But what the production brings out better than any orthodox version I’ve seen is the idea that something of authentic value is being destroyed".

Name: Royal Shakespeare Company
Web: https://www.rsc.org.uk External site opens in new window
Address: Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Waterside
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
CV37 6BB

Name: ZDF - Programme Service
Email: programmservice@zdf.de
Web: http://www.theaterkanal.de/fernsehen/mitschnitt/ External site opens in new window
Phone: 0049-(0)6131/70 9510
Fax: 0049-(0)06131/70 9515
Address: HA ABD, Programmverwertung und -übernahme
ZDF-Straße 1
Mainz
55100
Germany

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